Product of Hate
by Simply Rexene
Summary: The subject of cruel genetic and cosmetic testing, Kairi had absolutely nobody in the world to take care of her. She became a thief, living in the streets and stealing what she needed without remorse. Until... she got caught. Now she's being offered a better life by a rather odd man himself, and everything is going to get turned upside down and backwards.


**One**

A breeze ruffled through the mid-day air, touseling up some leaves and sending them dancing across Van Rider's boots as he strolled through the local park on his lunch break enjoying a chili cheese dog from his favorite street vendor. Fall weather was beginning to overtake the heat of summer, resulting in an absolutely gorgeous day that he couldn't bear to miss out on by staying cooped up in his shop for hours. He didn't usually enjoy mobile lunches-they typically resulted in him wearing half of his food-but the park was packed with patrons enjoying the day and the number of available park benches was scarce.

Looking at Vanitas, you wouldn't believe that he was the owner of Rider Novelties; an incredibly popular ice cream parlor and vintage candy shop in the center of the small town. The unspeakably tall thirty six year old man sported raven black hair and intense, golden eyes that could force anybody to their knees with one simple look. Beyond that, his wardrobe only consisted of three colors: black, grey and occasionally red. His footwear was even more simple-either black combat boots or black Converse hi-tops.

But regardless of his generally threatening appearance, which almost always was finished off with his favorite leather jacket, Van was actually a pretty decent guy. A bit emotionally closed off and misunderstood, but he always had good intentions.

"Hey, Van!"

His ears perked at the sound of his name, and he turned around to find one of his best customers and good friends, Ventus Hite, quick on his heels.

"Ventus, how're you doing?" he grinned, stepping off the path so they wouldn't block anybody else's way.

"Great! You?" the smaller blond man shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and swayed back and forth from his heels to the balls of his feet in an energetic motion.

Vanitas chuckled and shrugged his broad shoulders. "Same old, same old. Taking a quick lunch from the shop."

"I know," Ventus nodded, "Aqua told me where to find you. I've been meaning to ask you if you could potentially order in something special for me."

"Probably. Depends on what you need." He raised an eyebrow curiously, shifting his weight to the right side.

Ven grinned sheepishly and ran a hand through his sandy blond hair. "Well, you know Runts candy, right?"

"Right; I stock it in bulk containers at the shop. And the smaller boxes, for that matter. You can buy as much as you want."

"Well…" he trailed off, turning his eyes to the grass, "I kind of need a large quantity of only the banana flavor."

"Banana…?" Van repeated, furrowing his brow. "I suppose I can ask my supplier if they sell specific flavors. What's it for?"

He blushed deeply, starting to wring his hands together nervously. "Well… they're Aqua's favorite."

"I should have known," a smile crept across his lips as he held back a laugh. "That's why you didn't just leave the message with her. Isn't her birthday coming up soon?"

"It's next week," he nodded, "I need the perfect gift for her, and I noticed that whenever she's working at the shop, she'll buy a handful of Runts and pick just the banana ones out. It's not very cost effective, wasting all the other ones like that, so I thought I'd get her a supply of her favorites."

Van reached out and placed a hand on the younger man's shoulder, finding his crush on her quite adorable. They were both young college students, and Ventus would hang around Rider Novelties just to spend time with her while she was working. "I'll see what I can do. Are you finally going to tell her how you feel?"

"I… I think so…" he swallowed heavily, his mouth running dry. "She's just so gorgeous… What if she doesn't like me?"

"With the way she watches you out of the corner of her eye, I don't think you have anything to worry about, man. In fact, I-"

Vanitas stopped short of his words when he felt just the slightest movement in the back pocket of his jeans. He whipped his head around at the last second to see the outline of a girl running away into the woods.

"What's wrong?" Ventus wondered, looking over Van's shoulder to try and see what was going on.

Van patted at his pockets, realizing what was missing. "She took my wallet!" he yelled, trying to decide whether to call the police immediately or try to chase her down. But the figure he'd seen was about a foot and a half shorter than him, so he had a feeling he could pretty easily catch her.

"Hold this," he shoved the rest of his chili dog at Ventus and took off into the woods after her, his long legs allowing him to pick up unbelievable speed. The leaves crunched under his boots as he dodged tree roots and rocks, seeing the girl up ahead still sprinting away from him. "Hey! Stop!" he shouted, even though he knew she wouldn't listen to him.

He was gaining on her quickly, and she was clearly starting to grow tired. He could see her stumble a little, starting to grab onto trees to steady herself as she fled. It wasn't much longer before he saw her drop to the ground in exhaustion.

Slowing down to a walk, he approached her cautiously. She was sprawled out in the leaves, mostly covered by a large trenchcoat with a hood that concealed her entire body from view. When she saw him standing over her, she gasped sharply and backed herself up against a tree, still too tired to pull herself to her feet.

"I'd like my wallet back, if you please," he told her, closing the distance between them so she couldn't run again.

She reached into the coat and pulled it out, tossing it at his feet. "Everything is still in there… please don't take me to the police."

He was enthralled by the softness of her voice, which only made him more curious about her. "Pull down your hood."

"I can't…" she mumbled, shying away from him. "Just take your wallet and leave me, _please_."

"I'm not going to turn you in," he assured her, squatting down to her level. "Just let me see you. Are you hurt?"

She slapped his outstretched hand away, shaking her head vigorously beneath her hood. "I'm fine! Go away!"

In one swift movement, he snatched her wrist in his hand and reached up to yank her hood down without any further protest. To his surprise, she was actually a rather attractive young woman with the most interesting bright pinkish red colored hair he'd ever seen poking out from under a black wool cap. "What's your name?"

"Kairi," she snarled, yanking her wrist out of his grip and leering at him. "And I don't need your patronizing. Go away."

"How long have you been on the streets?" he ignored her request, instead standing up and extending a hand to her.

She allowed him to pull her to her feet, where he immediately crowded her against the tree so she couldn't bolt on him. "Four years. Now let me go!"

"How old are you?"

Kairi growled lowly, trying to duck under his arm to no avail. He just grabbed her hips and held on tight, her tiny frame no match against him.

"Answer me, Kairi. How old are you?"

"I'm twenty, I think," she huffed, struggling in his grasp. "Look, are you planning on raping me or something? 'Cause if you're going to, just get it over with."

Van's eyes widened. "Good God, no! I want to help you!"

She leveled her baby blue eyes on his, gritting her teeth. "I don't need your help, or anybody else's!"

In her vehement exclamation, her bangs shifted to the side and he was immediately drawn to a large scar running down the side of her temple. "Who did that to you? Your parents?"

"I'm not going to ask you again. Let me go!"

He leaned in close to her face, using his wild golden eyes to his advantage by locking her in a heated gaze. "You have two choices, Kairi. Come home with me and let me help you get back on your feet, or I drag your ass straight to the police station and they can take you upstate to the comfy cozy prison where you can make friends with much less kind people than myself."

She raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You would really welcome a complete stranger into your home? Just like that? I could be an insane serial killer for all you know. I could rob you blind while you sleep."

"You won't," he stated, taking a step back while keeping his grip on her. "You're not a criminal. I can tell. You're a scared young girl who's had to deal with way too many evils in this lifetime. All you need is a little guidance."

"I might not be a criminal, but you're stupid to take me into your home. If you knew what I was… what I _am_ … You'd hate me."

Van took another step back, letting go of her but staying on guard to catch her again if need be. "So what are you? What's gonna make me hate you? Just tell me now so we can save ourselves the ass-ache later."

"...If I were to run, you'd just catch me again anyways, wouldn't you?"

He nodded, crossing his arms over his chest and waiting for her to tell him.

"Don't panic," she forewarned him, starting to unbutton the trench coat. "And don't scream. I hate it when people scream…"

"Just show me, Kairi…"

She let out a heavy sigh and shrugged the coat off her shoulders, letting it drop to the ground before reaching up and pulling her hat off. At first he only noticed the tattered dress she was wearing and wondered what was so odd about it, but then his eyes locked on the top of her head and he inhaled sharply. Quite like many of the anime characters in the graphic novels he loved to read, she had small, black, rounded animal ears perched atop her head.

"But wait, there's more," she quipped sarcastically, and from behind her body came swinging a big, fluffy raccoon tail.

Van nearly choked on his own spit, stumbling backwards in shock. "What are you?!"

"See, I knew you'd do that…" she muttered, smoothing out her magenta hair to cover her scar again. "Please, just let me explain before you stroke out."

"Is… it real?" he rubbed his eyes, blinking a few times to confirm what he was seeing.

She rolled her eyes, tugging on one of her ears to confirm that it was indeed attached, then swishing her tail back and forth to prove that it wasn't a mere prop. "Real as the rest of me. Gonna let me explain now?"

He nodded quickly, breathing shallowly as his brain tried not to go into overload. "Go ahead."

"I was used for genetic testing when I was a baby. There's a company somewhere that's trying to create a race of people like me… Half animal, half human. I was one of their first successful experiments. I was raised in the lab… treated like shit… And when they were done with me and had no more tests to run, they sold me and a group of others off to a corrupt cosmetics company to use for product testing. Four years ago, I escaped… I had another girl with me, a younger girl who had the ears and tail of a cat, but they caught her and killed her. I managed to slip away and… I've been wandering the streets since."

"Genetic… what?" he parroted, thoroughly confused. "There's a company that actually creates girls like that? Why?"

She simply shrugged. "I don't know. They never told me."

"That's… horrifying. Good Lord, Kairi… How did you even escape?"

"They fused me with the traits of a sneaky bandit. That was their fault. I just used it to my advantage. You're actually the first person who's ever caught me stealing before I could get away."

Van took a minute to let everything sink in, trying not to stare at her. Aside from the ears and tail, she had a very soft, feminine phsyique to her. She was rather small and petite in a quite charming way, even underneath the dirty, worn out dress she wore.

"You know, you still haven't told me your name," she pointed out, sliding her coat back on and shoving the hat in her pocket.

"Vanitas Rider," he offered, holding out a hand to her. "I'm sorry for freaking out like that. But… that's no reason to hate you. In fact, it just makes me want to help you more."

She met his eyes, looking much less guarded than before. "If you help me, and people find out what I am… I can't guarantee that you'll be safe."

"So we won't let people find out," he smiled, extending his hand again for emphasis. "Come on. When's the last time someone treated you right?"

Kairi reluctantly reached forward and took his hand, allowing him to lead her out of the woods and back towards the park. "Lemme think… never?"

"I promise, Kairi. I'm not going to let anybody hurt you. You'll be safe with me," he told her, wondering just how he was going to explain this to his family. And probably even more important, to his fiancee.

…

 **Author's Note:** So I'm really crawling out of my box with this one, and I hope it pays off. I know that the concept is a bit strange, and that Van is definitely out of character at the moment, but I promise that everything will fall into place soon enough. Besides, cutie Kairi with raccoon ears and a tail? Adorable. Please trust me on this one! I hope you all like it. ^^

 _Simply Rexene_


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